DEER OH DEER

Twenty or more adult deer live within one mile of us. When I worked at the local Agway store many customers asked how they could get rid of “those pesky deer”. Most wanted to rid of the deer without hurting them but there were a few who were impatient and were ready to use force. We sold urine from fox and coyote. It works great until rain or dew washes it away. Here are some links about and for purchasing fox and coyote urine:

1. http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/traps/page86.html

2. http://search.merrifieldgardencenter.com/search.php?keyword=coyote%20urine

3. http://www.predatorpee.com/

For information and other links on deer go to; Deer-UK at: http://www.deer-uk.com/

Here are sounds made from deer. Click on the links below to hear the sounds.

Deer roaring http://www.deer-uk.com/Red_roaring.wav

Deer screaming http://www.deer-uk.com/Sika_screaming.wav

Deer cackling http://www.deer-uk.com/Sika_cackling.wav

This could be our back yard but it is not. http://www.deer-uk.com/Moulting%20Roe%20Deer%2003.05.04.wmv

TOMATOS

Save a tomato from this summer’s plant for next summer’s new tomato plant. You should be able to grow several tomato plants from one tomato kept over the winter. It is almost impossible to destroy the tomato seed. Unless you cut them or smash them, tomato seeds will survive our severe winters and bring up new plants as soon as the soil is ready to support them. Not even fire will kill the seeds. These pictures (taken by Sara) are of one cherry tomato plant growing in our garden. For more information and a good place to buy tomato seeds and more visit: Tomato Grower's Supply Company at:

http://www.tomatogrowers.com/

PIGSQUEAK

Here is more than you ever wanted to know, or ask, about Bergenia Cordifolia; or commonly called Pigsqueak. I thank my Mom for sending this plant to me. These two pictures were taken by Sara and are found in our garden. It is a unique plant for the area (as far as I know) and may be the only one that grows this far north in the US. The following information was found at Dave’s Garden web site at: http://davesgarden.com/

Heartleaf Bergenia, Pigsqueak (Bergenia cordifolia)

Family: Saxifragaceae
Genus: Bergenia (ber-GEN-ee-uh)
Species: cordifolia (kor-di-FOH-lee-uh)

Category:
Perennials

Height:
12-18 in. (30-45 cm)

Spacing:
9-12 in. (22-30 cm)

Hardiness:
USDA Zone 4a: to -34.4° C (-30° F)
USDA Zone 4b: to -31.6° C (-25° F)
USDA Zone 5a: to -28.8° C (-20° F)
USDA Zone 5b: to -26.1° C (-15° F)
USDA Zone 6a: to -23.3° C (-10° F)
USDA Zone 6b: to -20.5° C (-5° F)
USDA Zone 7a: to -17.7° C (0° F)
USDA Zone 7b: to -14.9° C (5° F)

Sun Exposure:
Light Shade

Bloom Color:
Pink

Bloom Time:
Late Winter/Early Spring

Foliage:
Grown for foliage
Evergreen
Bronze-Green
Rubbery-Textured

Other details:
This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds
Drought-tolerant; suitable for xeriscaping
Average Water Needs; Water regularly; do not over-water
Flowers are good for drying and preserving

Soil pH requirements:
6.6 to 7.5 (neutral)
7.6 to 7.8 (mildly alkaline)
7.9 to 8.5 (alkaline)

Propagation Methods:
By dividing rhizomes, tubers, corms or bulbs (including offsets)

Seed Collecting:
Allow seed-heads to dry on plants; remove and collect seeds
Properly cleaned, seed can be successfully stored

According to the Produce Manager

According to the Produce Manager at Wegmans grocery store we can expect to see a cold and snowy winter before next spring. He claims that the warmth of the Great Lakes will cause the skies to fill with moisture and as it happens here in Central New York we will be the ones to see it land on our landscape. Can’t wait!

Paniculata Hydrangeas

Paniculata Hydrangeas: also called PeeGee

Please see web site here (click on web address)

http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/paniculata.html for more information on the PeeGee Hydrangeas. As you can see with the first two pictures (taken from the web site) the PeeGee turns pink as the summer ends and warmer fall weather lingers on.

Our PeeGee is starting to turn pink; photos taken by Sara.

NEW CAR

As you may know, we now have a new '06 Toyota Corolla LE. There were a lot of memories attached to the '88 Corolla. After 162,000+ miles she was tired and started to show signs of the road (literally) where the trunk rusted away. Only in the Eastern states does one get rid of a young car with only 162,000 miles on it.

I think the new car will serve us well. Someone told us that we will pile up the memories on this car too with family road trips and the possibility of an expanding family in the future. The picture here is what our car looks like including the color. You will have to ask Sara what the color is. She picked out a name that better describes it than Toyota did.

TRAIN AND BUS STATIONS

The following pictures were taken by Sara in Quebec this summer. Quebec placed their train and bus stations next to each other. At night they are lit up to show off their architecture. The fountain is located in the park out front is also lit up and reminds me of the “International Fountain” in Seattle.

The Bus Station:

The Train Station:

SUNSET

The sunset as seen in our back yard.

THIS IS CORNY BUT I LIKED IT

According to today's bureaucrats and regulators, those of us who were kids in the 50s, 60s and 70s probably shouldn't have survived...

• We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.

• When we rode our bikes we wore no helmets, just flip flops, shorts and brightly colored clackers on our wheels.

• As kids, if our family had a car, we would travel without seatbelts or airbags. Traveling in the front was a treat.

• We drank water from the garden hose and public fountains - not from a bottle. It tasted exactly the same!

• We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always playing outside.

• We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or one can and nobody ever got ill as a result.

• We would spend hours building go karts out of scraps and then went top speed down the hill, only to find out we had forgotten about brakes. After running into stinging nettles and bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem.

• We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us all day and no one minded.

• We did not have Playstations and X Boxes - no video games at all. No 99 TV channels, no videos, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no internet chat rooms. We had friends. -We went outside and found them.

• We played football, elastics and street rounders - and sometimes that ball really hurt!

• We fell out of trees, got cuts and grazes, broken bones and broken teeth and there were no lawsuits. They were accidents. We learned not to do the same things again.

• We had fights, punched each other hard and got black and blue. We did not get assaulted -we simply lost a fight. We learned to get over it.

• We walked to each others homes and school.

• We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate live things, and although we were told it would happen, we did not have our eyes fall out and nor did live stuff grow inside us.

• We rode our bike in packs of seven and wore our coats only by the hood.

• Our actions were our own and the consequences were expected.

• The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!

• This generation has produced some of the best risk takers, problem solvers and inventors ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with them.

More Quebec Pictures

I picked only a few pictures out of several hundred to post here. It is a lot easier to post them like this than to try to e-mail them to whomever wants to see them. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

The first picture was taken of a mural off a wall in old town Quebec. The mural is three or four stories high and covers the entire end of the building. This picture only shows part of it.

The second picture was taken under the freeway that cuts over part of the city. The supports were painted so realistically some looked like they were covered with cloth, wood, marble, or whatever the artist wanted you to see. The red grandfather clock in the picture looks like it has gold columns on each side.

The last three pictures are places we ate meals. Can you see the ghost in one of them?

An Old Friend

It looks like we might have to give our 1988 Corolla a rest. It has been serving us since just before Sara was born and it will be sad to say goodbye to it. We hope to replace it with a newer version, a 2006 dark blue Corolla CE. We’ll go in tomorrow to see if we can afford the payments.

Labor Day

Yesterday was Labor Day. I worked on my accounting, entering numbers into a ledger from a general journal. I’m preparing for the day I actually have a paying job in the accounting field.

I also watered my compost, made yogurt, and drank tea. Compost, yogurt, and tea have linked properties or are similar in nature. Compost and yogurt contain live bacteria, tea is a drink made of suspended particles from a dried substance usually leaves.

My compost consists of mostly dead grass from our yard with some weeds and leaves collected throughout this summer. I know of one other person in the Syracuse area who is interested in composting and who may actually keep compost at home. It is interesting to me that he and his father grew up within five miles of the Benton Young farm in Pennsylvania; also known as the Como Farm. Today it is the site of the Tattersall Golf Club located in West Chester Pennsylvania. http://www.tattersallgolfclub.com/index.cfm?menu=742&openitem=742.

It is unfortunate more people do not use compost at their home because it is the compost in my gardens that help produce the flowers each year. It is also partly the reason my lawn is healthier (in my opinion) than my neighbors. The grass can breathe and gets more of the rain to its roots when it does rain during our hot summers. However, one drawback is I have to cut our grass more often.

I started making yogurt this past winter after I read “French Women Don’t Get Fat” by Mireille Guiliano. She recommended eating homemade yogurt using the “Donvier” yogurt maker.

My tea is from the Seattle Spice Market located in the Farmer’s Market in Seattle. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending how you look at it, I don’t have to go to Seattle to buy it. See the link to Blue Moon Tea.

Now that Labor Day is over it is time to go back to work. I have an old car to fix or replace, a stop at the post office, possible stops at car dealers, and I have to cut the lawn.

Calvatia and Lycoperdon

What are Puffballs? Does anyone really know?

I looked up puffballs on-line and found that several can be cooked and are enjoyed by many across the country and around the world. I also found that one species in particular is considered poisonous. Take a look.

(The Purple Spore Puffball)

Calvatia and Lycoperdon

The inside of puffballs are filled with countless spores which is soft and white at first. As the spores mature, they become violet-black, turn to yellow-brown, and finally they turn dark purple-black. Finally, the top of the puffball erodes and a large cup remains.

It can be hard to tell the immature mushroom apart from the skull-shaped puffball, which is also a choice edible, but there are no poisonous look-alikes.

Habitat

This mushroom grows in grassy pastures and suburban lawns throughout eastern and central North America. Manlius New York is known to grow large Puffballs.

Season

The mushroom appears in the summer and early fall, and persists through late fall.

Cooking

This mushroom is a choice edible. Trim away the cuticle

Slice the puffball, sauté it, steam it, or simmer it in soups, like other mushrooms. It's also great baked or grilled. It has a sweet-savory flavor and a soft texture.

This mushroom doesn't dehydrate well. To store it long-range, cook it and freeze it.

There is also what is called the False Giant Puffball or also called Poison Goalpost Fungus. Note the cracked surface about to erupt, ejecting enough spores to victimize up to 22 people at once! Look at the sample I pulled off the internet. Photo by “Wildman”

This mushroom is so deadly, merely inhaling the spores rearranges your brain's neural synapses, making you race endlessly back and forth across a field, stopping occasionally to jump up and down and cheer or curse insanely, never resting until death from exhaustion ensues.

Poisoning is so virulent, relatives of the victim, especially the parents, have been known to succumb as well!

Except for this species, the large puffballs have no poisonous look-alikes, so they're fair game for beginners.

Habitat

Look for giant puffballs on the ground in well-fertilized fields or pastures where the underlying fungus has plenty of underground manure to decompose.

Victims of the false giant puffball in the throes of madness

All this talk about the puffball started when I found some growing in my back yard this weekend. I do not plan on eating them and do not advise anyone who is not an expert in the mushroom to eat any they find either. Enjoy the puffball for what they are. Photos by “Sara”
Disclaimer: The information I found and printed here can be found on the web in my link section.

Dan Home for Weekend

Dan's coming home for the weekend :)

Garden Fountains

The top two fountains are found at the Butchart Gardens in Victoria British Columbia. The second three fountains are found at the Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square PA. The last two fountains are from the Château of Vaux le Vicomte in France.